Negotiations have begun today for the de-escalation of the sector between the Executive, employers and unions.

The Government is ready for the nightclubs to reopen this summer, and also with the operating dance floors, although cordoned off to control the number of people accessing them, according to the Secretary General of UGT-Services, José García Relucio, after the meetings that officials of the Ministry of Tourism have held this morning with representatives of the nightlife employer (Abone) and with the unions in the sector.

The main discrepancy, he said, is in terms of schedules: while companies in the sector aspire to open at least until 4 pm in July and reach 6 in August, the initial claim of the Government is not to go beyond 3 hours, at least in a first phase, thus respecting the criteria set by the Ministry of Health. This de-escalation plan will continue to be negotiated in future meetings, the first of which is scheduled for next week.
The Government’s intention that this sector can recover its activity this summer, after more than a year closed, has been exposed today by both the Minister and the Director General of Tourism, Iago Negueruela and Rosana Morillo respectively. The first has spoken of a reopening “over the summer”, while the second has indicated that it will be designed in such a way that it does not pose any risk “neither for customers nor for workers”, and always under the supervision of the Department of Health.

One aspect that according to the UGT representative seems clear is that the reopening of the nightclubs will include the possibility of dancing, as claimed by employers in the sector, cordoning off the tracks and leaving a single point of access to them so that staff of the company can control the number of people who concentrate on them, who make use of the mask and whose distances are respected.

Schedules

It is the matter of schedule where the initial postures seem more distant. Garcia Relucio has indicated that the initial position of the Government is that nightclubs can open, at least in a first phase, only until 3 in the morning, something that the sector does not like. The position of nightlife entrepreneurs focuses on the fact that the Executive is expected to allow the restaurant to be open until 1 pm from the next escalation, which leaves little room to go to a nightclub and stay in it. enough time for this offer to be attractive. Hence it is claimed from the sector that in a first stage they can open until 4 and then reach 6.

Date

There is also no opening date. The intention of the employer is to develop in June a pilot test in a medium-sized nightclub in Palma or Playa de Palma, as the most likely areas. The Government is open to this initiative, although without a clear date for it, as it is called “June or July”. After this experience, the sector should be reactivated, but the UGT points out that it is still unclear whether this would take place in July, as the employer intends, or in August.
It is also pointed out that in order to access these establishments it is necessary to carry out an antigen test, have a recent PCR test or have been vaccinated. The minister already indicated yesterday that the criterion cannot be only whether or not they are vaccinated people, since this does not depend on each citizen and conditions that could be discriminatory cannot be applied.

However, the problem of small pubs has been raised by the unions, many of them from abroad, whose dimensions do not make the development of these tests feasible, hence another category of conditions for them, such as power have air renewal equipment and CO2 meters.
In any case, José García Relucio has stated that, in general, we want the reactivation of nightlife to be similar to that of catering, that is, in a prudent and staggered manner.